Lawmaker’s Secret Recordings Aid Federal Probe of Politicians

The extent of former New York state Sen. Shirley Huntley’s cooperation with federal investigators came into clearer focus on Wednesday, as the names of seven elected officials and two former political aides whom she secretly recorded were publicly released.

U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein ordered the release of the names contained in a sentencing memorandum filed in Brooklyn federal court by Ms. Huntley’s attorney, who is seeking a reduced sentence for her client. Ms. Huntley, 74 years old, has pleaded guilty to mail fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday. Federal sentencing guidelines call for a prison term of 18 to 24 months, but the judge can deviate from them.

According to the memorandum, over a three-month period in the summer of 2012 Ms. Huntley recorded conversations with three state senators from Brooklyn — John Sampson, Eric Adams and Velmanette Montgomery — as well as Sens. Jose Peralta and Malcom Smith of Queens, Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson of Westchester County and City Council Member Ruben Wills of Queens. All of the elected officials are Democrats, like Ms. Huntley.

The two former political aides in the recordings are Curtis Taylor, who once advised Mr. Smith on media relations, and Melvin Lowe, a political consultant who Ms. Huntley’s memo said is an “associate” of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. A spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman said Mr. Lowe has never worked for the attorney general.

In court Tuesday, prosecutors said eight of those nine people are “subjects of on-going criminal investigations.” The prosecutors didn’t identify which of the nine isn’t the subject of an active investigation.

They said in court records that Ms. Huntley’s cooperation yielded useful information about three of them, including a state senator. No one has been charged as a result of her help.

Gerald Shargel, attorney for Mr. Smith, said that his client and Ms. Huntley “spoke during the summer of 2012 but it was light years away from a criminal conversation.”

Mr. Adams, a former New York Police Department captain, said he hadn’t been contacted about an investigation. “I believe deeply in transparency and the pursuit of justice—and that is why I committed 20 years of my life to law enforcement,” Mr. Adams said through a spokesman. “I am more than willing to help with any investigation.”

In an email, Mr. Wills said, “My attorney has been in contact with federal law enforcement authorities and he has been informed that I am NOT the target of any investigation arising from proceedings involving Shirley Huntley.”

“I have personally not been contacted by any law enforcement officials to date and I look forward to continuing the work of the people of southeast Queens that elected me,” he said.

City Council Speaker Quinn described Mr. Wills’s inclusion in the taped conversations as “troubling” and said she would review the matter. Last year, Ms. Quinn said, Mr. Wills was removed from the council’s budget negotiating team and was prohibited from designating grants to community groups after the council learned the state attorney general’s office was investigating whether he misused taxpayer funds. Mr. Wills hasn’t been charged.

Representatives for Ms. Montgomery and Mr. Peralta didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Messrs. Lowe and Taylor couldn’t be reached for comment.

An attorney for Mr. Sampson, Zachary Carter, declined to comment.

In a statement, Ms. Hassell-Thompson said she had lunch with Ms. Huntley in 2012, but “at no time–past or present–did we discuss anything inappropriate, improper or illegal. My record is above reproach.”

Senate Democratic Conference Spokesman Mike Murphy said: “This is an extremely trying time in Albany. If any charges are brought the conference will take appropriate action.”

The revelations come two days after Mr. Sampson was charged with embezzling money from an escrow account, using some of it for a failed run for Brooklyn district attorney and then trying to cover it up. Mr. Smith was charged in a wide-ranging alleged plot to bribe his way onto the mayoral ballot as a Republican.

Another lawmaker, Assembly Eric Stevenson, was also recently charged with bribery, after he was secretly recorded by a fellow Assembly member, prosecutors said. Mr. Stevenson has pleaded not guilty.

The series of corruption allegations has launched a debate in Albany about how to best craft new laws to address public corruption.

On Tuesday, prosecutors had argued that the names should remain under seal, but Judge Weinstein ordered them released after a petition by several news organizations.

Ms. Huntley, who served in the Senate from 2007 to 2012, agreed to cooperate after being confronted in the summer of 2012 with allegations that she misappropriated funds from the Parents Information Network, the nonprofit group she founded in 1994, according to the sentencing memorandum. In January, Ms. Huntley pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with charges that she embezzled approximately $87,700 from the group, which had a stated mission of helping educate and assist parents of New York City schoolchildren.

“Mrs. Huntley met with attorneys for the government and FBI agents regularly over a six-month period,” according to the memorandum. “During her interviews with the government, she advised them that she had knowledge of what she believed to be corruption involving public officials. She was asked by the government’s attorneys and FBI agents to invite certain individuals into her home and record conversations on behest of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She willingly did as they had requested.”

All nine people she recorded were also photographed by the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office “on multiple occasions,” the memorandum said.

Ms. Huntley’s attorney and prosecutors said publicizing the names would hinder an ongoing investigation and objected to the release of the sentencing memorandum, which was crafted to outline the reasons that Ms. Huntley should receive a reduced sentence. News organizations argued that the names should be “open to public scrutiny.”

In his ruling, Judge Weinstein said the release of the names won’t compromise any investigations because “every legislator who has conversed with this defendant will necessarily assume that he or she was recorded under the supervision of the FBI.”

“There will be no surprises to the potentially accused by the revelations of their names,” Judge Weinstein wrote. “Interference with ongoing investigations will be of almost no significance.”

The judge gave the government 24 hours to appeal his decision on Tuesday; prosecutors chose not to appeal.

Addressing the government’s arguments of fairness and discouraging good people from running for political office in the future, Judge Weinstein wrote:

Wince this country’s beginnings when Jefferson, Hamilton, Burr, and others began developing the art of American politics, anyone who entered the arena of government has understood that his or her good name may be unfairly sullied…To paraphrase President Harry Truman, “Those who cannot stand the heat should stay out of the kitchen.” Decent public servants can stand the heat.